Thursday, January 15, 2015

Happy New Year blog followers! I know I have been bouncing back and forth between the music blog and this one but I've had a lot of new ideas about different topics that sometimes don't revolve around music so I have to jump back to my original blog. Being one of those people constantly checking out YouTube I have seen many lists about sexy animated men from the Disney films (you can call them princes or heroes whatever...) and then about other animated male characters so I figured hey I can do that too! Being that I am more creative with blogging than video making I decided to do my list this way and a little differently. Now looks may be everything to some people and even though these men are fictional I did not pick them solely on looks. Now before I start a couple of notes:

1) Some choices are nostalgic from childhood so of course being a child then it is more from a stance of hero worship than sexual attraction.

2) Most of my choices are anime based as I got into it as I became older and of course almost all anime men are gorgeous!

and lastly

3) I also based a lot of my choices on the actually actors who voiced the characters. Most of the actors are recognizable some are not but most of them are attractive in real life (well maybe to my standards but every one has their own opinions.) One thing is undeniable that sometimes a voice can be the sexiest thing about a person so let's just see who are the ten choices that top my list

Oh and as stated none of these choices are from any animated film in the Disney canon...there's like a whole other list for that ;)

When I was in elementary school and middle school this show would come on in the afternoons that I came home from school on PBS and it was interesting to say the least. It followed the formula of the more popular Disney version where a blonde mermaid named Marina saves Justin from drowning, gets a sea witch to turn her human yet she can't speak and try to win his heart away from another girl whom he mistakenly thinks saved his life. Of course he figures out the mermaid is the girl he really loves but Justin is too late and she becomes a fish back in water but that's okay because his wizard tutor gives him a potion to breathe underwater where Justin and Marina have many adventures together! It sounds very cheesy but yet again early Japanese animation dubbed to English speaking children doesn't help matters but I guess I always thought Justin was a hottie! Even though he's the prince and does save Marina on occasion, Justin sometimes can be the one in distress and Marina ends up being the one to save him instead.

The voice behind Justin, Canadian voice actor Thor Bishopric, is also a very impressive guy. He has been voice acting since he was ten years old, was the president of the Canadian version of the Screen actors Guild for seven straight years and has about 40 roles under his belt!

#9. Sven from Voltron: Defender Of The Universe voiced by actor Michael Bell

As stated before, I had to watch a lot of cartoons aimed at little boys in the 80s since I had a lot of male cousins so you either had to grin and bear it or actually learn to like it which is what happened with Voltron for me. The Americanized version of the Japanese Beast King GoLion (heavily edited of blood and violence for us young tykes) tells of five pilots from Earth who end up on Planet Arus and discover that a mechanical robot can be combined by five robotic lions and help defend the universe from the evil King Zarkon and his son Prince Lotor. Now you may think I only watched it because they had Princess Allura as the only female character to relate to and you may be right but I still love this show regardless.

Now there were five pilots and almost everyone fangirls over Keith and Lance that I can see on YouTube and fan fiction sites some even go for cute little Pidge or muscular Hunk but I always liked Sven the most. Tall, dark, handsome, quiet, reserved and a man who wears his heart on his sleeve which is the kind of man I go for in real life is probably why I like him. In the original series, Sven ( Shirogane) only appeared in six episodes before heroically losing his life and then apparently had a younger, look-alike brother show up. In America, Sven was just put on a bus to get some medical treatment and then came back after being a tortured POW and now being a freedom fighter alongside his lady love who just happened to be Allura's cousin. Also another reason I think I liked Sven was that accent (it's said to be Norwegian so we'll just go with that but still...) which I guess was just something his voice actor Michael Bell ad-libbed.

Michael Bell has been in the voice acting business for quite sometime as well as television acting. He has over 300 roles to his credit starting in 1957 when he was only 19 and has probably been the voice behind many people's childhood idols (check out his IMDb page it's humongous!) To be in the Hollywood industry this long and still be going is an amazing aspect and deserves respect with all the wisdom he gives to voice actors half his age who hope to have such a long career.

#8. Miroku from InuYasha voiced by actor Kirby Morrow

Thanks to Adult Swim/Toonami on Cartoon Network I discovered so much anime that it's ridiculous and one of my favorites is InuYasha about a girl named Kagome thrown back into the Warring States Era of Japan and finding the titular half human/ half dog demon pinned to a tree. Together they travel together to piece back shards of the Shikon Jewel and defeat the evil Naraku along with a young fox demon named Shippo, demon slayer Sango and her demon cat conveniently in kitten form Kilala and of course, lecherous Buddhist monk Miroku. I can understand why you may be questioning me as to how I find him attractive beyond a physical level (which is obvious that he is handsome...I mean really did you look at him?)

Well for one thing he is bad ass because he can fight like a ninja, when he actually concentrates he can help exorcise demons and evil spirits and plus a tragic backstory doesn't hurt. He helps Kagome and InuYasha in their fight against Naraku because a long time ago he cursed Miroku's grandfather with a wind tunnel in his hand. Sounds cool at first but it gets bigger with every use and soon will be so large and powerful enough to suck in the person attached to it! It claimed not only the life of his grandfather but Miroku actually witnessed the death of his own father when he was a little boy! Now Miroku is cursed with the same infliction so his wish is to have a child hopefully a son to avenge him if he should die before killing Naraku which would remove the curse from further generations of his bloodline.

Okay even though it may seem I am condoning his womanizing, it's also apparent that Miroku puts on this act of being such a dirty minded young man but you are faced with death probably before you even reach your twenties thanks to something you can't control...would you want to show that all the time that you are scared to death of dying? Being cursed makes Miroku a little more mature than the hot-headed InuYasha which ends up making him a loyal and trusted friend that they both needed and even though he is sometimes sexually provocative toward Sango he cares for her and won't hesitate to bring the beat down if you harm her...what a guy!

Miroku's portrayer to English speaking audiences, actor Kirby Morrow, has such a voice that I can imagine fitting such a noble yet loveable rogue or a level headed leader. Acting since the late 90s, Kirby has had almost 150 roles in television and movies and is one good looking guy even now at the age of 42 (he was in his late 20s-early 30s when InuYasha was at its peak and definitely a honey even then!)

#7. Prince Lir, son of King Haggard, from The Last Unicorn voiced by actor Jeff Bridges

First off I know some people will nitpick and say I should put adopted or foster in front of son but let's not get troll technical okay? Anyway the 1982 animated version of Peter Beagle's 1968 fantasy novel tells of well a unicorn who is said to be the last of her mythical kind going out in search of others, meeting a wizard named Schmendrick and the common law wife of a woodland fugitive named Molly Grue. When they travel to Haggard's kingdom, the unicorn gets turned into a young woman in order to protect her from the creature called The Red Bull that drove all the other unicorns into the sea for Haggard's own enjoyment. In this form of Lady Amalthea, the unicorn is romanced by Lir.

I think Lir is such a great character because he falls in love with "Amalthea" at first sight but since she is actually an immortal creature that knows nothing of love at first she becomes hard to woo even though Lir does what any noble prince would do by slaying beasts and monsters and dragons to win her favor. He tries clumsily at poetry but as she loses her true self and gains more of the human mortality, Amalthea comes to love Lir but when he learns what she truly is even though he still loves her he knows she must go back to being a unicorn. When The Red Bull threatens her again in her true form, Lir sacrifices himself to save her.

So let's see a young man who is having trouble winning the affections of a girl, ends up trying poetry which fails in a cute sort of fashion, ends up humbly winning the girl, loves her no matter what and so much that he knows he has to let her go for her own good but in the end will sacrifice himself for love which changes him for the better...now that is a romance novel that will stand for all time!

So today most people know Jeff Bridges as "The Dude" with his Zen like calm and crazy country old timer vibe but back in the early 1980s he was sexy as hell! He was suave and cocky with chiseled features and a soft-spoken voice and well very endowed in that Tron costume. If you don't believe me try looking up Tron or Faerie Tale Theater Rapunzel in your search engine ;) Besides the obvious hunkiness, Jeff Bridges comes from an acting family (late father Lloyd and big brother Beau), has been acting since he was just a baby and can sing like no one's business. Yes even today there's something about that maturity that makes him one charming man.

#6. Prince Derek from the film The Swan Princess voiced by Broadway actor Howard McGillin.

Now for most women reading this entry I can hear the words "what" and "why" coming from your lips but for those of you not familiar with this film or the ballet it is loosely based on, Swan Lake, let me sum up the plot.

Prince Derek and Princess Odette have been matched up by their parents since Odette was born but they can't stand each other until they get older and become major hotties. Derek only seems to think Odette's beauty is a reason to tie the knot, makes a total ass of himself so she and her father King William leave with Odette heartbroken. An enchanter named Rothbart banished long ago attacks them, William dies from injuries and Odette has been whisked away when Derek arrives too late to help. Now Odette is cursed to be a swan during the day and only on nights when moonlight shines upon the lake of the castle where Rothbart keeps her prisoner. In a nutshell, Derek vows to find Odette while everyone else thinks she is dead and she hopes for Derek to find her and break the spell on her with love and so on...

I have heard most comments directed towards the fact that Derek is actually quite a jerk but well when he's younger little boys think little girls have cooties so there's that. When he gets older let's face it most twelve to thirteen year old boys are jerks (I speak from personal experiences) and don't get over that until at least high school, or college or face it... some never do. Also it's my experience that most guys don't know anything about love and are mostly oblivious to it even if you hit them in the face with a giant ten pound sack labeled "LOVE" that has the impact of a blue whale landing on top of them. Now when Odette is assumed dead that's when Derek realizes that he did love her and he gets better and comes to realize he has to find her and hopefully make up for his actions. On a whole other level, what throws them off for liking Derek is his hair and his um I guess not so subtle reactions to things like he was trying out for an off-Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire (HEY STELLAAAA!!) but in a twist...

Howard McGillin is a Broadway actor with lots of television roles as well but you can't take the theater out of a person bred on the stage. He was the longest performing Phantom Of The Opera in history, earned but did not win Tony nominations, has a strong, beautiful baritone and a career that's been good for him since the early 1980s onward (he was in his early 20s when he started acting and is still doing shows now in his early 60s.) He is also quite a handsome man and always congenial to his Phantom fans (so I've heard) plus...I kind of have an attraction to men named Howard if they are tall and of course a sucker for brown eyes and a nice voice ;) Alas I am off the market and so is he...he and his husband have been married since 2013 so right on but yep the good ones are always married or gay aren't they?

#5. Hans/The Prince of The Dolls aka The Nutcracker Prince from the film of the same name voiced by actor Kiefer Sutherland

First off before we get into this yes I admit I have a thing for Kiefer Sutherland alright! He has a very sexy voice, is quite handsome, can be a real badass guy when the time is right and he was jilted at the altar by Julia Roberts when she ran off with his Lost Boys co-star and friend Jason Patric which warrants him a hug as I can relate to being stood up by many boys at school dances so now that it's finally out in the open let's go to The Nutcracker Prince deal.

So of course every one should know this story: young man turned into a Nutcracker doll by an evil Mouse Queen in retaliation for interfering in one of her spells on a snobby princess that can be broken if he wins the hand of a fair maiden. A young girl named Clara receives him in doll form from her godfather Uncle Drosselmeier and becomes wrapped up in a battle between mice and toys as the Mouse Queen was killed and now her son the Mouse King wants to rule over well everything.

This is one of my favorite versions of the story and although I am unaware as to the exact age of Hans and don't want to seem like a pedophile I can't help but be a little sweet on him when he's The Nutcracker. As a whole the guy is a kicked puppy if you think about it first he took pity on the spoiled Princess Pirlipat who got turned into an ugly troll and tried to help break her curse. Second of all when he did succeed he got turned into one of those creepy looking nutcracker dolls so she refused to marry him and he got stuck being in some form of suspended animation for over 700 years (look it up on Wikipedia.. I'm just condensing the info to support my choices). So anyway he then has to wake up and fight a mice army with like no training in military strategy? The guy has it rough but does make up for it in charm, good manners, an awkward kind of shyness, respect for his elders and some nice dancing skills in that pas de deux.

#4. Sam Winchester from the Supernatural animated series voiced by Jared Padalecki

Before I hear some booing out there I am not cheating! This anime was made in 2010 and released on DVD to the States in 2011 through Warner Home Video. It combined episodes from both the 1st and 2nd seasons as well as original episodes revolving around the Winchester Brothers, Sam and Dean, as they hunt the paranormal and seek out their father. Now the reason I picked Anime Sam is well Anime Dean doesn't look or sound like the one people are familiar with on the show thanks to being done by an artistic adaptation of the Japanese animators and the fact that Jensen Ackles had scheduling conflicts to provide the English dubbing except for the last two episodes.

Now Anime Sam is pretty much like live-action Sam with the murdered girlfriend guilt, the awesome powers brought on by demon blood, the bad-ass fighting skills and the big old knowledge that comes from his bookworm tendencies. Sam is of course portrayed as far more sensitive than Dean with a more soft approach but still gets to be a babe magnet and man when he gets hostile he is down right scary but he can still be playful and sarcastic. When it comes to the live action show I can't ever really choose between Dean or Sam to fan girl over but the anime is a no contest when it comes the cool, true blue Sam over the red-hot, hot blooded Dean.

When it comes to the real life actors, I still can't choose between being a Jared Padalecki fan or a Jensen Ackles fan because both guys are smoking hot! Jared is tall, has great hair, a wounded puppy kind of gaze and does the facial hair very nicely. I could go into what I find sexy about Dean and his portrayer Jensen Ackles but that is another time, another day and another list away ;)

Okay I may just have to do a full blog on this movie to get every detail in about the full plot because the films of Hayao Miyazaki are so grand, beautiful and complex not to be talked about so blurb condensing the main points: a young woman named Sophie is cursed by a wicked witch into being an old woman so she journeys to find the powerful wizard named Howl in his mechanical, steam-punk moving castle of magic and junk to help remove it and many magical and wonderful things (and some kind of creepy and violent things) start to happen as it goes in the Studio Ghibli universe of things.

Howl is known to be a womanizing, self-centered young man who is said to eat the hearts of beautiful girls. In reality I would have to say that Howl is a conflicted, sometimes serious, quietly angry, over dramatic and very vain young man and can not go any further than that without revealing major spoilers. If I had to say anything else about the Howl character, it's got to be those blue eyes that won me over and as a woman who usually prefers the tall, dark and handsome ones I like when he gets the dark hair to make those eyes just pop!

When it comes to Christian Bale, I've had a crush on him ever since I saw him in the 1994 version of Little Women as Laurie and of course with that English accent, dark eyes and even a little bit of a temper makes him just so damn sexy! Besides that, Christian is a talented and committed actor to every role he takes and he has been doing this since he was only ten years old so that makes an almost thirty year career!

#2. Dimitri from the film Anastasia voiced by actor John Cusack

Now I know for a fact a lot of young women think Dimitri from Anastasia is cute and I am no exception. The first time I ever saw this Don Bluth animated masterpiece (that in no way left me emotionally scarred like his past works when I was younger) when I was 14 I thought Dimitri was a babe! This film was very loosely based off the real daughter of Tsar Nicholas II who for the longest time was thought to actually have survived the execution that killed her parents, sisters and baby brother by the Bolsheviks and began the leadership of Communist Russia. A play of the same name was also the inspiration as well as the 1958 film starring Ingrid Bergman based on said play where a young woman is believed to be the real Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicolaevna. In this 1997 animated film, a girl named Anya is found by con men Dimitri and Vlad to try and pass of as Anastasia to receive a reward commissioned by the girl's grandmother for her return. In the meantime there are some songs, Anya and Dimitri have some unresolved sexual tension and the reanimated, soulless corpse of Rasputin is after Anya knowing that she is the real Anastasia and only killing the last of the Romanov line will make him human again to rule Russia...I am not making that up.

So besides his warm, brown eyes and his crooked nose that brings out his handsome face what are other reasons to like Dimitri? I mean he's trying to con money out of an old woman still grieving the loss of her family and her last string of hope being that her only living grandchild is well still alive? It's also clear in the beginning that Dimitri doesn't care that Anya is only interested in finding her family and kind of placates her pretending to take interest. It's kind of only after he sees Anya out of her frumpy orphan look in a real dress with her hair all nice that the snarkiness starts to subsided and the good points of Dimitri's character come out.

When he realizes that Anya really is Anastasia by her revealing that a young kitchen boy helped to save her and her Grandmother (the boy being a young Dimitri) he becomes a lot more humble, a little more morose thinking he isn't good enough for her, actually turns down the money, decides she is better off without him finally being reunited with her family that he leaves but then he comes back when he gets his love epiphany and tries to help save her. I think Dimitri is a very good example on how love can change a person for the better and even though Anya/Anastasia is a very strong kind of woman that doesn't need saving it's nice to know that a guy will be willing to put his life on the line if you are in danger.

Dimitri's voice actor, John Cusack, has to be one of my favorite actors. Of course almost every girl knows him as Lloyd Dobler from Say Anything... with his boom box declarations of love and out of place chivalrous nature in the modern late 1980s world. I mean John has been acting for a very long time, his whole family immersed in the industry, and he has done comedy, drama, thrillers, action and horror...almost every kind of genre you can think of! I have always admired his talent and I love the honest, open appearance of his face as a person but when the role calls for it he can be very intense and have you maybe backing off just a little bit...did I mention he has a black belt in kickboxing like a 6th degree one? John Cusack could kick your ass if he wanted too...what's more attractive than a man who is not only a lover but a fighter?

So by now you are probably wondering who my number one pick is right? Well if you think you know me then maybe it's not a big surprise or possibly it is and though to many you may cringe but I'm sorry I just can't help it...

#1. Tuxedo Mask from the anime series Sailor Moon voiced respectively by Rino Romano, Toby Proctor and Vincent Corazza for the North American, English dub.

Sailor Moon is the first anime I ever saw and possibly the best one even though my horizons have expanded in that genre. Since it came out as a manga in 1991, Sailor Moon has become such a world-wide phenomenon being dubbed in other languages, merchandising thousands of products, having a live-action series, musicals, theatrical films and complete reboots in DVD and Blu-Ray. I was eleven or twelve when I first saw this show and every afternoon or early morning time-slot that hosted it I was watching Sailor Moon and recording it on VHS tapes. I have dolls and tons of pictures to decorate my desktop and of course this brought about my first hard-core crush on an animated character. Unlike some of the choices on this list from the 80s where I was probably too young to understand why I liked boys or that you could even like boys, Tuxedo Mask was an exception.

As I have stated before, I like older men so when I reached the point where I could actually have feelings that were kind of like love, I guess Usagi (or Serena as I came to know her) crushing on the much older Tuxedo Kamen/Tuxedo Mask made me realize that it was okay to have fantasies like that and even let me know that sometimes there could be heartbreak in liking somebody. Now because of the English dub, there has always been a lot of hate for the American version of Mamoru (known to most as Darien) saying that he is too much of a jerk, more of a damsel in distress than Sailor Moon, just a satellite love interest that loses much of any awesomeness he had once they actually hook up and of course being completely lame because he has no powers. Now I can't say where I blame people for having those opinions but in the manga, he had actual powers, was more studious and stoic than comical and annoying and was a much more romantic boyfriend to Usagi.

Sailor Moon creator Naoko Takeuchi has stated that Tuxedo Mask is her ideal man and she created him to be handsome, suave, and the mysterious protector type almost on par with American superheroes such as Batman and his true identity Bruce Wayne and even Superman and his alter-ego of mild mannered Clark Kent. No matter how lame or awful you may think of the character and any of his incarnations. with his tall stature, beautiful baby blues, handsome face, midnight hair and an affinity for roses...that's quite a scrumptious package!

Rino Romano

When it comes to the North American dub, Darien/Tuxedo Mask had three voice actors during the original run (the series is being redubbed with a new voice actor) and since it is the one I grew up on these are the actors I will focus on the most. Rino Romano did the first eleven episodes and probably looked the most like the character with his dark hair and a suave voice to make the girls melt. When Romano left the role, Toby Proctor had the privilege of voicing the rest of the first season and a majority of the second season. Toby provided more of the comical edge to Darien's voice and to me more of a emotional tone when it came to serious scenes and even some of the cheesy dub dialogue to fit to the early 90s audience of young girls watching. Toby did most of the voice work in some of my favorite episodes of the series so even though I am quite partial to his voice as Darien there were times when I thought his voice made Darien seem a little less mature than when he did Tuxedo Mask's voice and seem a little more of a jerk than intended during that whole break-up arc in the latter half of the second season before he left and Vincent Corazza came in.

Toby Proctor

Before I get into Corazza's portrayal of Tuxedo Mask/Darien, on a more personal note can I actually talk about him because I just so happen to be friends with him on Facebook. You see a long time ago I got on his website telling him what a good actor I thought he was and he wrote me back to say thank you! I was just geeked that an actual celebrity would right back to me that when I liked his fan page on Facebook and then saw he had an actual person page, I sent him a friend request with a little reminder and he accepted it! I've wished him happy birthday, commented on some of his posts and of course gushed on how talented and gorgeous he is but I've also gotten to see how nice a guy he is and how much his wife and family mean to him as well as his career no matter how small a part in a TV show or film is. So when I say that he is talented, nice, attractive, funny and smart unlike other actors I mentioned in this post having actually conversed with him I can speak the truth about what makes the actor behind an animated man a real one.

Just one good look at those abs because why not? Oh yeah and there's another picture below that's less distracting...

So the last half of the second season, the three dubs of the movies and onto the end of the series in North America , Vincent Corazza took over the voice of Tuxedo Mask/Darien. After hearing Toby for so long as Darien's voice it was kind of jarring to hear a much deeper voice but only out of Darien...Vincent's voice for Tuxedo Mask fit the character quite nicely like a well tailored...you get my point. There seemed to be more of the maturity of the manga version that came along with Vincent Corazza's voice so when it came to serious scenes he nailed it and sometimes even with all the hokey lines and comical what the heck moments, Darien was a little more charming. No doubt there were a lot of cringe-worthy moments in the fourth season where the show kind of got goofier IMHO that would make an actor question just why they were doing something so silly but I'd have to say that Vincent made it a pleasure to the ears in that respect.

Vincent Corazza

So there you have it my top ten favorite animated men NOT from the House of Mouse. You can feel free to leave comments on my choices but please be kind. I don't say it a lot because I want my blog to be a fun place but if your bashing gets to insane troll levels comments will be deleted and people blocked. I would never do the same on someone else's blog no matter what I thought so I would appreciate the same kind of respect. Your comments won't hurt my feelings but I just don't tolerate hate and ugliness.

It seems only appropriate to actually discuss the men of Disney after this so stay tuned...